1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to comparators, and more specifically to a comparator with reduced power consumption.
2. Related Art
A comparator is a component, which compares the magnitudes of a pair of signals, and provides one output level if a first one of the pair is greater than the second, and another output otherwise. The signals may represent electrical parameters such as currents or voltages provided as inputs to the comparator. Alternatively, only one signal may be provided as an (external) input, while the other may be a current or voltage level generated within the comparator. Examples of such alternative comparators are logic inverter circuits, inverting and non-inverting buffers etc.
Comparators often need to be implemented to meet several requirements, such as reduced power consumption and higher switching speeds. Further, it may be desirable that the switching threshold(s) (the specific voltage or current level at which the output of the comparator changes state) be substantially immune to variations in manufacturing process, and operating temperature.
Several aspects of the present invention provide for comparators meeting one or more of such objectives, as described below with examples.